Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors 22" Chicoppee 300, no barrel boss?

21" (*) Chicopee barrel in 300 with no barrel boss, ser# 62566 (* front sight is too close to muzzle, but doesn't look to be re-soldered)
Did the RT's have 22" Chicopee stamped barrels , or 24" Chicopee barrels.., or 22'" Utica Barrels? ..or , do i have a wannabe RT with a chopped barrel? (....)

The 99RT's had a mix of barrels...

Both 22" and 24" in 300 Savage. If the front ramp is still there and part of the barrel, I'd say it definitely started as a 22". I think almost all were stamped Utica tho, so that's odd.

Is the rifle a 99RT? Or is it a lose barrel? And what's with the serial number 62566? That doesn't sound right for any 99 from Chicopee.

there's an extra digit on the ser 65266X , so I assume 1952-ish

the forearm wood is replaced non-factory, with some grain that matches the butt stock. Butt has a fluted comb, but I haven't had the plate off to see if the wood has been drilled or numbered.

I'll dig a bit deeper and get some pictures,

No idea. All Chicopee made 99R/99EG barrels should be 24". The 99F's were 22" but with a rear sight boss.

Even replacement barrels made in Chicopee for earlier guns were 24".

I'm changing my designation then, calling it an R/F , factory D&T (with side-of-front ring stamped) 652666 (devil's own?).

(These are pictures I pulled from the sales ad, December 2015)

(https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/18815173/99-r-f#Post18815173)

Chicopee barrel is 21" muzzle to bolt face, but front ramp is closer to muzzle than normal, so..?

The forearm checkering matches an early 60's DL checkering.
Buttstock looks like a 99F.
Maybe went back to the factory to be restocked in the 60's?
And not sure that front sight is right.. guessing barrel was cut 2" and sight moved back.

Beautiful wood on it!

The barrel could have even been put on in the 60's. Can't rule it out.

We've seen 22" 284 barrels without a barrel boss that are stamped Chicopee Falls show up on postmil guns. I have one in the safe.

Why and how? Nobody has an explanation for them.

The front sight base was integral with the barrel until about 1955. that is serial numbers in the 700,000 range. That front sight doesn't look integral. The line shows between the sight base and barrel. That area is smooth with no line on the integral base 99's. It could be a later factory modification.

I think there was only 1 model made in Chicopee with a 22" barrel, the 99F. Maybe there were some unmarked 22" barrels around that had been produced in Utica, buy not stamped. Or maybe they pulled one out to do a prototype 99F. Or Chicopee produced some 22" 300 Sav replacement barrels, and one made it on to this rifle.

The original barrel on his gun would have been a 24" barrel with integral front sight. The simple answer is this was cut down to 22" and a ramp front sight attached.
Cuz this doesn't look factory.



The much less likely possibility in my mind is that it got a leftover Chicopee Falls barrel when sent back to Savage in early 60's, which would have had a screw on front sight ramp and could be cut to any length. This could also explain the fancy DL forearm/F buttstock put on what is almost surely a 99R receiver (d&t).

[quote=Calhoun]The original barrel on his gun would have been a 24" barrel with integral front sight. The simple answer is this was cut down to 22" and a ramp front sight attached.
Cuz this doesn't look factory.

I agree, with one clarification. Jeff said it was 21" ... so my guess is they had a 24" and cut off at the rear of an integral sight, leaving 21" and added the sight. Could get there starting with a later 24" screw-on sight, but then they would have had the original front ramp to screw back on (but it does not look original). Still wonder why they mounted that sight so far forward

If the barrel was a 22" integral, you'd only have to cut off at the front of the integral sight to get to 21" ... but where would you have found a 22" Chicopee integral barrel ...

That's exactly what I said when I found one on my 1964 99DL in 284...

Though front sight isn't integral. Don't think. Crap, now I have to go find pictures or pull it out of the safe.

Whew.. found pics. Not an integral front sight. Screwed on like the late 50's/60's 99's.